Looking for suggestions for Belgian Farm House Saison spices

Hi everyone,

I'm a rookie homebrewer who is preparing to do my second all grain brew soon. Since my Mom is very sensitive to preservatives and she can't drink most comercially bottled beers because of that, I wanted to brew something for her using all organic ingredients.

So I went with a Seven Bridges Organic Belgian Farm House Saison kit:

http://www.breworganic.com/organicbelgiansaisonall-grain.aspx

What I liked about the idea of brewing this recipe is the fact that they recommend adding spices, but they don't include them.

To give you an idea of my tastes I would like to add flavor to it without making it to "clovey" in taste. Ginger root like they suggested sounds interesting but I guess I don't have any particular ideas beyond that.

So I'd love to get some advice on spices to add to this. Especially when it comes to how much to use, and when to add them whether that would be during my boil or during fermentation.

So what would you guys recommend?

This is just my personal taste, but let the Saison yeast do the flavoring and leave the spices out. You'll get more than enough funk and spice with a Belgian yeast especially at Saison fermentation temps.

I could be wrong, but I don't think commercial beer has preservatives in it besides hops.

You can use black peppercorns, coriander, sweet orange peel, those would be the typical additions in a Saison.

Black pepper corns I would suggest up to 1/4 oz at 10 minutes in the boil
Coriander at just a few grams, it can be overpowering with citrus flavor at 10 minutes in the boil
Sweet orange peel up to 2 oz also at 10 minutes in the boil

duboman said:

You can use black peppercorns, coriander, sweet orange peel, those would be the typical additions in a Saison.

Black pepper corns I would suggest up to 1/4 oz at 10 minutes in the boil
Coriander at just a few grams, it can be overpowering with citrus flavor at 10 minutes in the boil
Sweet orange peel up to 2 oz also at 10 minutes in the boil

Click to expand...

Thanks! Coriander and orange peel does sound like a good way to go. I might give those a try in it.

Grains of paradise! I forgot how much I used in a saison I made when I first started brewing, maybe 2grams last 5-10 mins gives a nice taste (my recipe had bitter orange peel, coriander, and Belgian candy sugar as well) . Slightly peppery which goes well with the spiciness from the saison yeast. This thread just reminded me to pull out the old recipe and make it again!